[BN] the know

Isles won’t pay all of Vanek’s salary

Former Buffalo Sabre Thomas Vanek, who was traded to the New York Islanders on Sunday, is welcomed by fans at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum prior to Tuesday night’s game against the Rangers. Vanek did not score as the Isles lost, 3-2. Getty Images

It appears there was a little more to the Thomas Vanek-for-Matt Moulson trade than meets the eye.

Reports from TSN on Tuesday said that the Buffalo Sabres retained 19.5 percent of Vanek’s salary.

Vanek’s salary, according to capgeek.com, is $6.4 million while his salary cap hit is $7.14 million. That means the Sabres will pay about $1.2 million of Vanek’s salary this year and take a $1.4 million hit on their salary cap.

It’s the second time the Sabres have retained a salary, a new feature under last year’s new collective bargaining agreement. Last year, the Sabres retained salary of Jason Pominville when he was dealt to the Minnesota Wild.

The Sabres retained $825,000 of Pominville’s salary while retaining $795,000 in salary cap.

The Vanek deal becomes the seventh known retained salary transaction in the NHL.

Toronto reportedly has retained the salaries for Ben Scrivens, Matt Frattin and Matthew Lombardi while Carolina has retained salaries for Jeremy Welsh and Jussi Jokinen.

Another twist in the Vanek trade was reported by ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun.

As part of the deal, the Sabres picked up a first-round draft pick in 2014 and a second-round pick in 2015.

LeBrun reported that if that first-round pick ends up in the Top 10, the Islanders have the option to defer the pick to 2015.

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Corey Tropp is closer to being ready to move from the injured reserve into the Sabres lineup.

He still has not been cleared to play, Sabres coach Ron Rolston said, but Tropp did participate fully in practice Tuesday.

Tropp is coming back from a broken jaw he suffered in a preseason fight with Toronto.

Tropp has had a year of bad injury luck. It was last October when he tore ligaments in his right knee, requiring surgery and extensive rehab.

The 24-year-old winger isn’t taking anything for granted.

“This may have been the most humbling experience of my life so far,” Tropp said. “You kind of look at all the things you went through and where I was at right before all that happened. To get back in the lineup, I joked it might be a bit emotional because I’ve kind of been through hell and back to get back in an NHL game. There are some days where you wonder if it’s ever going to happen again or if you’re going to be able to get back there.

“It’s just been a real humbling experience. … It definitely makes you appreciate the game way more. Hopefully a couple years down the road I can look at this year as a little bump in the road.”

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Joe Battista left his job at Penn State to become the Vice President of Hockey Related Businesses for Pegula’s East Management Services.

Battista, a 1983 graduate of Penn State, spent 27 years in Penn State athletics, most recently as the associate athletic director who helped facilitate the initial $88 million donation from Terry and Kim Pegula to fund the Pegula Ice Arena and the Nittany Lions move to Division I men’s hockey.

In a news release, Battista said in his new role he “will be responsible for hockey development and strategic initiatives across the entire spectrum of the Pegula’s hockey organizations. I will work in collaboration with Buffalo Sabres president Ted Black, General Manager Darcy Regier, and Chief Development Officer Cliff Benson, as well as HarborCenter CEO John Koelmel to maximize communication and to coordinate, implement and optimize all our hockey-related business.”